Weekly News Summary for August 30 - September 6, 2009:
Jennifer Carpenter, senior vice president-national advocacy for the American Waterways Operators, updated members of the AWO’s Midwest and Ohio Valley regions on efforts to achieve relief from burdensome rules under the new Vessel General Permit (VGP) governing discharges incidental to the normal operation of vessels.
The VGP rules stem from a decade-long lawsuit filed in California by environmental groups. The suit sought to include vessels under the authority of the 1973 Clean Water Act’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program, from which they had been exempted by the Environmental Protection Agency.
AWO and the Shipping Industry Ballast Water Coalition intervened in the case, opposing the inclusion of vessel discharge regulation in the NPDES permit program, but the Ninth Federal Circuit judge ruled otherwise last summer (WJ, Dec. 15, 2008). The exemption expired December 19, and the court ordered EPA to write rules regulating liquid discharges from vessels under the authority of the NPDES program.
On January 30, even before the VGP took effect on February 6, AWO’s board of directors authorized it to take legal action to prevent implementation of unworkable requirements added by the states of Illinois, New Jersey and California to the VGP. The board also authorized AWO to take legal action against other states to bar implementation of problematic VGP conditions if necessary, subject to the future approval of the executive committee (AWO has not identified any other states’ certifications that should be challenged). Members have been paying a special assessment to support the legal efforts….
Upcoming Coast Guard rules on vessel inspections have called forth “the highest-stakes effort we’ve ever pursued on behalf of the industry,” according to George Foster, vice chairman of the board of the American Waterways Operators, at a recent meeting of the AWO’s Midwest and Ohio Valley regions on August 19-20. The meeting was held in St. Louis.
Tom Allegretti president and chief executive officer of the AWO, said it might be two or three years before industry sees a final rule on vessel inspections. He praised the spirit of “creativity, innovation, and cooperation” between industry and government during discussions on the proposed rules. “This sets a great foundation for future collaboration,” he said.
Vice president for regional advocacy Lynn Muench gave an update on the status of the many hydrokinetic projects for which permits have been issued or applied for.
AWO has begun building a relationship with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency that regulates all non-federal hydropower projects. The Mineral Management Service regulates all land leases for hydropower projects in the outer continental shelf….
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, better known as the stimulus bill, contains some good news for the Monongahela Valley, the Upper Monongahela River Association (UMRA) reports.
The most important part of the ARRA funding for the Pittsburgh Engineer District is the money devoted to the Lower Mon Project. This project, authorized in 1992 with a projected completion in 2004, involves the three oldest navigation facilities, which also have the highest volume of commercial traffic on the entire Monongahela River Navigation System. This project is to receive $84 million in AARA funds.
So far the project has replaced the nearly 100-year-old fixed-crest dam at Braddock Locks and Dam with a gated dam, and begun construction of two new larger locks at Locks and Dam 4 in Charleroi, Pa. The new Braddock Dam and Locks became fully operational in April 2004.
Eventually the Corps will remove Locks and Dam 3 in Elizabeth, Pa.,which are more than 100 years old and have served well beyond their 50 year design life. Since the Lower Mon project started, Dam 3 actually failed due to scour, but was repaired at considerable cost….
Following much painstaking calculation, planning and an aborted move two days prior, a 504-foot-long bridge truss was floated into place below the entrance to Kentucky Lock August 21. Army Corps of Engineers officials described the 4.4-million-pound bridge span as a small but important part of the $734 million Kentucky Lock expansion project currently underway at Tennessee River Mile 22.4. The completion date is now estimated to be 2016.
When completed, the facility will include an additional 1,200-foot lock to augment the existing 600-foot chamber. The current facility is often the source of lengthy navigation delays, as typical 15-barge tows have to be broken into two segments to pass through. The new lock will be constructed landward and adjacent to the existing chamber. All components of the lock addition project are being cost-shared, with 50 percent of the cost being borne by the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, from revenue generated by a 20-cents-per-gallon surcharge on marine diesel fuel.
The new bridge span for the Paducah & Louisville Railroad is part of three major relocations required by the new lock. Railroad and vehicle traffic on U.S. Highways 62 and 641 will be rerouted from atop the dam onto newly constructed bridges immediately downstream of the dam. Four large electric transmission towers located downstream on the right descending shore have already been moved landward and raised in height and are quite obvious now with extremely bright red strobe lights that appear to flash in a random pattern. Other relocations or improvements will include a new two-lane boat launching ramp, courtesy dock and restroom facility in an old marina basin on the left descending bank….
On behalf of all employees of AEP River Operations, president Mark Knoy received an award August 24 from the American Land Conservancy for AEP’s donations to their work.
Kerry O’Toole, president of the American Land Conservancy, and Jenny Frazier, program director for the ALC’s Mississippi River Program, presented Knoy with a photograph by river photographer Jeff Vaughn in a conference room at AEP River Operation’s new offices in Chesterfield, Mo.
The photo will join other river artwork, including many by river artist Garry Lucy, that adorn the conference room and other spaces in the new five-story building, where AEC rents two floors. The building occupies a rise that commands a wide view of the Chesterfield Valley, site of disastrous flooding in 1993.
Founded in 1990, American Land Conservancy is a private nonprofit land conservation organization that works to conserve land for the benefit of people and wildlife. Its Mississippi River Program, founded in 1993, aims to conserve land in the Mississippi River floodplain to benefit endangered species and other wildlife, maintain a balance between conservation and transportation needs on the river, and support riverside communities by facilitating land transactions that preserve or restore habitats. The program grew out of an invitation from the U.S. Forest Service….
The Waterways Journal encourages letters to the editor.
Have something on your mind?
Send letters to: jshoulberg@waterwaysjournal.net.
(Please indicate whether or not your letter is intended for publication.)
